Road grader having front and rear extensions and blade position indicator



Dec. 5, 1961 J. A. WHITE, JR 3,011,275

ROAD GRADER HAVING FRONT AND REAR EXTENSIONS AND BLADE POSITION INDICATOR Original Filed July 16, 1959 IN V EN TOR.

J y a. Male, J: 5 2% nited S at s Patent .ROAD GRADER HAwNoFRoNT-AND; REAR EX- TENSIONS AND BLADE POSITION INDICATOR John A. White, Jr., Gilroy, Calif assignon by mesne assignments, to Be-Ge Manufacturing Co., Gilroy,

Calif.,'a corporation of California Substituted for abandoned application Ser.

July 16, 195?. This application Jan. 13, 1961, Ser.

' Claims." (Cl.'37-143) This invention relates generally to road graders and more particularly to a road grader having front and rear extensions and a blade position indicator. Many highway departments are .becorningmore strict with respect to allowable roughness or waviness of a high- 1 Way base. One'state now specifies that the road base shall be held within three-fourths of an inch over a length of fifty feet. Precision work of this type can be accomplished by the use of a scraper plan'eproad planer, or fini'sh leveler', as the machine may be variously called. A scraper plane may be over sixty feet long, while a road grader is normally about twenty feet long. The longer wheelbase of the scraper plane enables it to do more pre- 3,011,275 Patented Dec. 5, 1 961 v ice Mounted on the blade frame aboveblade is, as shown in FIG. 1, is a generally vertical guide member 5 2 carrying a'graduated scale 54. A support member 56 in the shape of an inverted V rides on wire 42 and has a light-weight gage 'rod 58 secured thereto. The gage rod SBeXtends upwardly through guide member 52 and carries an indicator v60 secured to gage rod 58 by a setscrew '62,; and which indicator is positioned to be' easily seen by the'operator of the machine from his seat'thereon. V Outriggers 26 and 28 are so dimensioned as'to space wheels 30 and 32, as well as pulleys 38 and 40, equally from gage rod 58. It will then be understood that as either By the use of my invention, it is possible to use a road cise work, but it has a rather limited use and may be considered too costly by the small contractor. Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide an attachment to a road grader which'will enable it to do nearly as precise work as a scraper plane and thereby eliminate the need of purchasing this rather special purpose machine.

Other objects of the invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of a road grader modified in accordance with my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view of the road grader of F-IGURE 1 from the rear;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the blade position indicating mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary enlarged view showing the means for mounting the wire portion of the indicating mechanism; and

FIGURE 5 is a broken-away perspective view of the blade position indicating mechanism from the rear.

A road grader is generally indicated by thenumeral 10 in FIG. 1. The road grader 10 includes an engine 12, a frame 14, wheels and tires 16, an earthmoving blade 18, a blade frame 2% pivotally suspending blade 18 from an end of frame 14, and hydraulic actuators 22 and 24 for pivotally raising and lowering blade frame 20.

In accordance with the invention, a front outrigger or auxiliary frame 26 is removably secured and pivotally suspended :in any suitable manner from the front end of road grader 10, as indicated at 27, and a rear outrigger or auxiliary frame 28 is removably secured and pivotally suspended in any suitable manner from the rear end of road grader 10, as indicated at 29. Ground engaging caster wheels 30 and 32 are pivotally supported at the ends of outriggers 26 and 28, respectively. Angularly extending brackets 34 and 36 are provided for mounting pulleys 36 and 40 adjacent the ends of outriggers 26 and 28, respectively. A wire 42 is strung between pulleys 38 and 40, being secured at one end to the pulley 40-and at the other end to a spring 44 secured to outrigger 26. The pulley 40 is provided with a hand crank 46 and ratchet wheel 48. A pawl 56 is pivotally mounted on bracket 36 to cooperate with ratchet wheel 48. Rotation of crank 46 thus elongates spring 44 to place wire 42 under tension. The wire 42 is mounted along the right side ofroad grader 10, but laterally in from the adjacent wheels 16 thereof, in such a manner as to be freely movable upon raising or lowering of wheels 30 and 3-2 due to unever terrain.

grader to prepare a road base with accuracy approaching that obtainable with ascraperplane, Thedevice can also be used as an inspection tool by scanning the road base with the blade and noting the movement of indicator 6%).

This application is a substitute for application, Serial No. 827,618, filed July 16, 1959 (now abandoned).

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. An attachment for a road grader and which grader comprises a main wheel-supported frame and a blade frame supported from the main frame for vertical adjustment relative thereto and normally rigid therewith;the attachment comprising front and rear outriggers removably and pivotally suspended from said road grader and carrying ground engaging caster wheels adjacent their outer ends, gage rod actuating means mounted under tension between the outer ends of said outriggers, gage rod guide means mounted on said blade frame, an upstanding gage rod supported by said gage rod actuating means and guided by said gage rod guide means, and means for indicating relative vertical movement between said gage rod and said gage rod guide means.

2. An attachment for a road grader and which grader comprises a main wheel-supported frame and a blade frame supported from the main frame for vertical adjustment relative thereto and normally rigid therewith; the attachment comprising front and rear outriggers removably and pivotally suspended from said road grader and carrying ground engaging caster wheels adjacent their outer ends, brackets adjacent the outer ends of said outriggers, a wire mounted under tension between said brackets, gage rod guide means mounted on said blade frame, an upstanding gage rod supported by said wire and guided by said gage rod guide means, and means for indicating relative vertical movement between said gage rod and said gage rod guide means.

3. An attachment for a road grader and which grader comprises a main wheel-supported frame and a blade frame supported from the main frame for vertical adjustment relative thereto and normally rigid therewith; the I attachment comprising front and rear outriggers removably and pivotally suspended from said road grader and carrying ground engaging caster wheels adjacent their outer-ends, gage rod actuating means mounted under tension between the outer ends of said outriggers, gage rod guide means mounted on said blade frame, an upstanding gage rod supported by said gage rod actuating means and guided by said gage rod guide means, and means for indicating relative vertical movement between said gage rod and said gage rod guide means, said front and rear out riggers being so proportioned in length as to locate said gage rod and said gage rod guide means substantially midway between said ground engaging caster wheels.

4. An attachment for a road grader and which grader comprises amain wheel-supported frame and a blade frame supported from the main frame for vertical adjustment relative thereto and normally rigid therewith; the attachment comprising front and rear outriggers removably andpivotally suspended from said road grader and carrying ground engaging caster wheels adjacent their outer ends, brackets adjacent the outer ends of said outnggers, pulleys mounted on said brackets, a pawl and,

ratchefimechanism associated with one of said pulleys, a tension spring mounted adjacent the other of said pulleys, a wire mounted under tension between said pulleys and having one end secured tosaid one pulley and the other end secured to said tension spring, gage rod guide means mounted on said blade frame, an upstanding gage rod supported by said wire and guided by said gage rod means, and means for indicating relative vertical movement between said gage rod and said gage rod guide means.

5. An attachment for a road grader and which grader comprises a main wheel-supported frame and a blade frame supported from the main frame for vertical adjustment relative thereto and normally rigid therewith; the attachment comprising front and rear Outriggers removably and pivotally suspended from said road grader and carrying ground engaging caster wheels adjacent their outer ends, brackets adjacent the outer ends of said outng'gers, pulleys mounted on said brackets, a pawl and ratchet mechanism associated with one of said pulleys and brackets to adjustably hold one pulley against rotation, a tension spring mounted'adjacent the other of said pulleys, a wire mounted under tension between said pulleys and having one end engaging aboutxand secured to said one pulley and the other end secured to said tension spring, gage rod guide means mounted on said blade frame, a gage rod supported by said wire and guided by said gage rod guide means, and means for indicating rela tive movement between said gage rod and said gage rod guide means, said front and rear Outriggers being so proportioned in length as to locate said gage rod and said gage rod guide means substantially midway between said ground engaging caster wheels. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

